Over the past month we have welcomed two new babies calves to the Giraffe herd.

A female named Karaka, meaning “patch” in Swahili, who was born in the searing 40 degree heat on Friday 20 November 2009 and a male Giraffe named Uthuli, meaning "dust" in Zulu who was born on Friday 18 December 2009.

Both the little ones stood up within an hour of being born. They were a little wobbly on their legs at first but are now use to their long legs to get around and look a lot more coordinated when they walk.

Both mothers, Matungi and Tulli, have been doing a superb job at raising their young ones and have bonded well. The calves are becoming more and more inquisitive as they get older because at first Karaka was very shy and was not too keen to go out onto exhibit with the rest of the herd. But now she has a playmate they will no doubt enjoy galloping around the exhibit together in of a morning together.